those lines and those regiments and those army corps are simply so much material to be thrown here or there, as the will of the commanding general shall dictate. But the modern idea of an army is already quite different. It was the brains behind the bayonets of the Germans in 1870-1871 which conquered France. It It was the training of the intellect and the heart which led those reserves at Gravelotte, after they had been repulsed time and again, to follow Moltke to victory. It was the education of Germany which led each one to feel that he individually must save the fatherland. So that in the army of to-day more is required than merely mechanical perfection.

But the brotherhood and sisterhood of teachers working in the schools cannot be likened to an army. Theirs are not solely problems which can be worked out to perfection by the commanding general in order that he may be able to achieve certain results. Each one in this army has a problem of his own to meet each day. These children they meet are individuals, living each in his own individual environment, each with his own heredity, each struggling under his peculiar conditions. The mind of the teacher cannot. take some patent plan which has been prepared somewhere by some one and apply it to all the children in the room, as a whole. It is the province of the teacher, possessed of all the learning and resources which the most advanced methods can give him or her, with a training which makes it possible for the mind of the teacher to adapt itself to individual conditions, it is the province of the teacher with this equipment to study each individual case. It will be seen, therefore, that we cannot treat the problem of school organization on the same basis that we would treat the organization of an army. Rather am I impressed with the fact that the fundamental con

ception upon which is built the structure of the American republic is the one which will guide us correctly. The American republic is based upon the idea of the sovereignty of the individual citizen. Coupled with this idea there must be offered to the individual citizen the highest opportunities for his development, in order that the citizen may be a well-equipped sovereign in administering the affairs of the commonwealth. It is this idea of the sovereignty of the individual citizen which makes the great democracy. But while we contend for the democratic principle and believe that in it lies all the hope for the future, we cannot underestimate the need for the organization of the forces of the commonwealth. Certain results must be obtained by combination, and out of this grows government. Government becomes the hand and the mind through which the democracy accomplishes its purpose. Then again government placed in a position where it can overlook the whole field, supplied with the resources and the qualifications for the studying out of particular problems, can do certain work and give to the democracy its aid in its upward struggle. Applying the principle indicated to a school system, the teacher is the sovereign power and the whole purpose and intent of the organization must be to aid the teacher in doing the best work.

The problem of the day in every direction is the barmonizing of the idea of organization and the idea of democracy. Democracy fears that perfect organization will lead to the centralization of power. The organized forces of government feel or see the failures of democracy and believe if the problem of progress were only left to them they might accomplish much better results. Let us see how this harmony can be established in a great school system.

Let the principal and teachers in each school constitute the faculty for that

school. The city should then be divided into districts. The superintendents in charge of each district, the principals of the schools in each district, and possibly a number of teachers, representing the body of teachers in each district, should constitute the faculty for such district. Then there should be a central faculty consisting of the chief superintendent, the district superintendents, the heads of any special departments, a number of principals selected by the principals from their own number, and a number of teachers selected by the teachers from their own number. All questions affecting educational work should be discussed in the school faculty, then in the district faculty, and finally in the central faculty. It would be well also to have the members of the board of education ex officio members of the central faculty in order that they might listen to the discussions and take part in them if they wished to. This plan, it seems to me, would give scope to the individual and would at the same time lead to a more perfect organization than any which exists at the present time. Each individual in the system would be a force in shaping the thought and policy of the whole. I have no sympathy with those who tell us that our teachers are mere machines, that the text-books must be large and elaborate, so that the teacher has everything prepared. I deny that the course of instruction, must have perpendicular walls. believe in elasticity. I believe in giving opportunity, and I never yet saw the best results obtained by depreciating efforts. Even as you expect so shall you receive. Belittle and men fall. Demand the highest and men will endeavor to come up to your expectations.

Such a plan as is here presented dignifies the professional position of the teacher. He or she is not any longer a cog in the machine but becomes a living force whose voice is heard and whose

thought may influence the entire sys

tem. At the present time systems are so organized that teachers seem to feel they must take their food from above. Under the proposed plan those above would constantly feel the vitalizing influence of the great force throughout the whole. The teacher in his or her work with the pupil meets all the great questions and should have a voice in determining the course of study, the books to be used, the materials to be employed, the method to be applied. I do not say that this should be a determining voice, but if it speaks the best, those who listen to it will be wise and give heed to the voice of practical experience. Such a scheme would also allow home rule within limits to schools and districts. It would take cognizance of the fact, for instance, that in a great city like Chicago all the schools in all parts of the city cannot be treated alike. We have schools which are situated in districts in which the children of

foreign-born parents largely attend. We have other districts in which the schools are attended almost exclusively by the children of American-born parents. It will easily be seen that the work in certain lines will be radically different in the two districts. It also allows of breadth in various directions. I am one of those who believe that in a great city like Chicago with its 250 schools, experiments should be carried on in this or that direction. If I were a superintendent I would have various experiments going on in various schools. The principal should be in reality the head teacher and leader in the school, in touch with the teachers and pupils and helpful to them. The superintendents should be experts in the highest sense of the word.

Turning now from this picture of the reorganization of the educational system, let us for a moment consider the problem as it affects the board of education. The board idea can only continue to exist if

it subserves its true function, viz., to represent the people in the administration of the public school system. It should reach the most perfect organization in the management of the various departments of the public school work, but it should be careful always to keep the people in touch with what is being done. In other words, while the board of education should be the central power which should have charge of affairs, it will be wise if it so arrange matters that the people will know what is going on and are led to feel that it is their voice and their action, which affects the schools either one way or another. The board of education should be the body which discusses and manages the business affairs of the board. To the faculties before mentioned should be left the discussion of educational affairs. From the central faculty, with the concurrence of the general superintendent, should come the recommendations as to educational matters which the board is asked to approve of. The board should confine itself to the discussion and establishment of plans and policies. It should not interfere in the carrying out of details. These should be left to those who are employed in the various departments, because of their special fitness.

There are, however, many questions which are mixed questions of business and educational policy and which remain for the board. The kindergarten, manual training, higher education, commercial high schools, the training of teachers -it is the business of the board of educa

tion to consider whether these should be taken up by the public school authorities, how far they should be carried, whether the public money should be turned in such directions. When it has been determined to extend the work, or to enter into new fields, the experts are there to carry out the orders of the board on the proper lines. In this way the board of education becomes a small section of the great democracy. In its hands are placed the public moneys and to its mind and heart are entrusted the care and the development of the public school work. Such a conception as this dignifies the idea of a board of education. It makes it a body of men and woman who must post themselves in regard to the tendencies and progress of school work, who must know the needs of the people and what they desire from the schools, and who also know in what way the people will derive most from the schools. In connection with the idea of keeping the people in touch with the schools, it may not be out of place to speak of a great movement which has been going on in Chicago during the past year. The school halls in various parts of the city have been open to joint meetings of the parents and the teachers in the schools. At such meetings practical questions have been discussed and the work done by the schools has been exhibited. These gatherings have been a great aid in informing the people as to what work has been done in the schools, and in shaping public opinion as to school matters.

A sudden breeze stirs, crisp and cool;
The cricket sings all night;
And sharply in the grass at morn

The frost lies, keen and white

A softer blue haunts all the skies,
Vast cloud-worlds sail o'erhead;
And on the marsh's rim we catch
The first few glints of red.
-Kate L. Brown.

Conscious moral conduct involves two elements; (1) a conviction as to the right or wrong of the act; (2) the feeling of ought or ought not, concerning it. An act may be good or bad, in its relation to society, and be neither moral nor immoral in its relation to the actor; for it may be merely automatic. A great part of the acts of people are automatic or so nearly so that society attaches little moral responsibility to them. One of the chief ends of education in the family and the school is to make moral conduct habitual. The impulse is strong in a normal human being to do as he feels that he ought to do. Unless there is some strong opposing desire he will obey it. The purpose of school and family training is to strengthen this instinct.

There are certain school virtues that may be called the cardinal virtues of good society, because they are essential to all efficient cooperation. Among these are punctuality and regularity in the performance of one's part in all undertakings requiring cooperation. Without these cooperation would be impossible, and all enterprises demanding a combination of many individuals would be unknown.

It is a special function of the school to cultivate these virtues. They are not apt to be considered moral duties, but the convictions of right and duty attach to them as closely as to the more distinctively moral obligations, when the child sees that the rights of other individuals and the well-being of the school are attacked by his irregularity in the performance of his part.

Another school virtue is called silence. This means that the pupil concentrates

his attention upon his own work and does not interrupt the work of his fellow pupil.

The virtue of silence may prevail in a very noisy school, as in a manual training school, for example. Silence begets self-reliance, a very essential element in morality.

Another school virtue is justice. The child's deed returns to him in kind or its

equivalent. What he sows he reaps. Wealth and position in the social world count for nothing in the school. Merit alone determines the rank of the pupil. Justice is a still more important element in the moral order, and is the pillar upon which the truly free state must rest. When the school teaches the child to love and practice justice, even though it be but the child's view of justice, it has fixed one of the most fundamental principles of morality in his character.

Another of the school virtues is the persistent search for the truth, and the sifting out of all falsehood from the combinations the pupil is making. This virtue is inculcated especially in solving problems set for him by the school or by himself. In every branch of study, when well taught, the pupil is constantly seeking for the truth and to discard and avoid that which is untrue. He becomes loyal to the truth even when to be so thwarts his own wishes. Mathematics and nature study are especially influential in cultivating a reverence for this virtue. A single falsehood vitiates the entire work. A truth will fit every other truth in the universe. A lie will fit nothing, not even another lie, and be able to pass undiscovered.

Another school virtue is politeness. It

is the form, if not always the substance, of what Goethe calls one of the three kinds of reverence-reverence for what is of our own rank in the order of the world. Politeness is the treatment of another as an ideal individual. It is an unconscious reverence for our own ideal of manhood or womanhood. Whatever

may be the faults of another, politeness regards him as faultless, and bows in acknowledgment of ideal worth. Empty as is the form, oftentimes, it is the form of a high and noble sentiment, and as such it is a social virtue, often begetting in the mind of another the desire to be worthy of that which the form implies.

Another, and one of the greatest of the school virtues, is industry. Industry is the setting up of a worthy end and the persistent pursuit of it. There is much active idleness in the world and in schools. But the purpose and atmosphere of a good school prompt to industry. Industry furnishes a valuable training of the will, and practice in the adaptation of means to ends. Industry in the pursuit of worthy ends will always insure a moral community.

But the greatest school virtue of all is that of obedience to the law of the school. The law of the family is not exact in its requirements. That of the school is. This virtue of obedience is implied in all the other virtues named above. The school stands midway between the spontaneity of the home and the freedom of society. He there learns the meaning of law, and is prepared to obey it as imposed by the state. Its purpose is to make him self-directive in his obedience to the social order.

This enumeration would seem incomplete to many unless mention were made of sympathy. This is pre-supposed in all that has been said above. Indeed sympathy is that instinct without which human society could not exist. Sympathy feels with (and we may add, for)

others. Through sympathy we grow into an intellectual consciousness of our

oneness with our fellows. Feeling developes into knowledge. This consciousness of unity is the basis of all altruism. One loves one's neighbor as himself because his neighbor is himself in so large and comprehensive a sense. Sympathy not only mourns with those that mourn, but it often chasteneth because it loves. It is the supreme function of the school to extend and strengthen the bounds of sympathy. It thus becomes the nursery of loyal, patrotic citizens by leading the child to recognize every other child as a brother. Here more than in the home or the church is planted and nourished the recognition of the brotherhood of man. The moving force in a good school is sympathy. Without it a school is less than "sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." Its cultivation, alone, would justify the labor and expense of a general system of education of the children.

If these are the cardinal virtues, there are many minor ones in a good school, the combined influence of which upon the character is scarcely less than these.

When we reflect upon these influences constantly at work in our elementary schools, we wonder how any Catholic prelate or any professor of the University of Chicago can declare these schools to be nurseries of "immorality and corruption."

And, again, when we reflect upon these things we discover the grounds of Supt. A. G. Lane's declaration at Milwaukee that children who complete an eight year's course of instruction in the elementary schools will become intelligent, moral, and loyal citizens." The most charitable view of the statements of the prelate and the Chicago University professor is that of the great Master when unjustly accused: "they know not what they do." There is some excuse for the Catholic prelate, but pray what excuse is there for Professor Small?